📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Dwarf BSP
- 🌍 Origin: An independent dwarf variety bred in the USA. Seeds in this thread trace back to a well-known grower named Dale, who has been developing a whole family of experimental tree-type dwarfs (including OPO, PPI, ZSO, etc.).
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Tree-type dwarf with regular leaf (RL) foliage. Despite being a dwarf, it can grow quite tall in a greenhouse—ranging from 1.4 m (4.5 ft) up to nearly 2 m (6.5 ft) depending on the climate. The seedlings are super stocky and rarely get leggy, but once in the ground, the plant develops much like a regular indeterminate.
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Dark chocolate-colored, round-to-heart-shaped tomatoes. Weight usually ranges from 120–250 g (4–9 oz), though the original description notes they can get larger. The flesh is tender and juicy, not overly dense.
- 👅 Flavor: Exceptionally sweet. Growers note it has a rich, prominent sweetness with absolutely zero acidity. Perfect for folks with a real sweet tooth.
- ⏳ Maturity: Mid-early. It starts ripening earlier than many other dwarf varieties and continues to pump out heavy yields until the first frost.
My seeds came from Angelina, who originally got them directly from Dale. Here is the description from her website:
Dwarf BSP (BSP, USA)
New Release!
A mid-early variety that pumps out a huge yield right up until the first frost. Bush height reaches up to 1 meter (3.3 ft), regular leaf (RL). Fruits are very large, round-to-heart-shaped, with a deep chocolate color. It has a pleasant, balanced summer tomato flavor. Incredible resistance to diseases and cold snaps.
By the way, there are quite a few other lines in this dwarf family from Dale — OPO, PPI, ZSO, RHP, HPR, HGO, HRM.
There’s hardly any info out there on these dwarfs, pretty much just what Angelina posted…
I’ve posted my descriptions and photos for two other dwarfs from this project that I grew (OPO and PPI) in their respective threads on the forum.
I grew BSP in my greenhouse, and it reached about 140-150 cm (4.5–5 ft). Even as seedlings, these little plants looked super healthy and robust. The plant is stocky and doesn’t get leggy—typical for dwarfs—but once in the ground, it develops a lot like a regular indeterminate. My tomatoes weren’t massive, mostly in the 120-250 g (4-9 oz) range. It did drop some blossoms during the peak summer heat, but I didn’t use shade cloth on the greenhouse this year. Anyone with a sweet tooth will love these. The flavor is really nice with a prominent, rich sweetness, but absolutely zero acid. The flesh is tender, juicy, and not overly dense.
Personally, I prefer a very dense, meaty texture and at least a little bit of acidic bite (tartness). Because of that, it won’t be coming back to my garden next year. But its two siblings, OPO and PPI, have been absolute favorites of mine for two seasons now—their flavor is perfectly balanced with a great mix of sweet and tart.
Seeds sown: March 3. Sprouted: March 7-8.
April 22: Moved the seedlings out to the greenhouse (at night, I covered them over low hoops with heavy row cover). By that point, after potting up twice, they had almost completely filled out their 2-liter (0.5 gal) pots.
Planted out in the greenhouse beds: May 7.
Here is what the BSP plant looked like right after transplanting into its final spot…
First fruit set on May 15…
June 5…
June 20…
I picked the first ripe tomatoes on July 5.
July 21…
I grew BSP this year too. I had it in the greenhouse, and it topped out at nearly 2 meters (6.5 ft) tall! Huge yielder and, in my opinion, very tasty and sweet. It started ripening earlier than most of my other dwarfs and kept pumping out fruit right up until the end of October, when I finally pulled everything from the greenhouse. I didn’t take any photos, but they looked exactly like Tanya’s!
On 12/23/2022 at 09:34, Irina Fedorova said:
I grew BSP this year too. I had it in the greenhouse, and it topped out at nearly 2 meters (6.5 ft) tall! Huge yielder and, in my opinion, very tasty and sweet. It started ripening earlier than most of my other dwarfs and kept pumping out fruit right up until the end of October, when I finally pulled everything from the greenhouse. I didn’t take any photos, but they looked exactly like Tanya’s!
Thanks Irina! So glad it did well for you too! 👍🍅
